The Cleveland Browns left the first round of the 2026 NFL draft with OT Spencer Fano, WR KC Concepcion, and extra picks in the third and fifth rounds. For most, the Browns did the exact three things expected of them in Round 1 of this year’s NFL draft: trade, OT, and WR.
There are some who are unhappy with the actual choices made by Cleveland GM Andrew Berry. While Fano was, obviously, the top tackle on their board, and Concepcion has all the tools to be an explosive playmaker, there are reasons for
concern with both. Fano has shorter arms and a narrow frame. Concepcion has an issue with drops and also isn’t a big receiver.
This year’s draft class also wasn’t the strongest. In most years, Fano may have been the third or fourth tackle taken, even if he was the safest in this year’s group, and Concepcion may have fallen to the top of the second round. The Browns could only select from the players available and, based on the Consensus Big Board, they did a very good job:
The Consensus Big Board combines big boards from all of the top NFL draft analysts in the media space. Then, Reinhard graphed each selection compared to the best available player on that Consensus Big Board (CBB).
For Cleveland’s pick, for example, Fano was not the best available on the CBB but was close. The same was true for Concepcion; selecting S Dillon Thieneman would have been an even better value.
The value of the CBB is in the aggregation of data from a large number of sources. This is not one person’s opinion versus what happened. Instead, it is the totality of rankings, averaged, versus what decisions were made on Thursday night.
Reinhard’s work to provide the grey line of historical average helps provide us context, related to the CBB, where we can see that OL Keylan Rutledge was the biggest reach of the night, and DE Rueben Bain Jr., WR Makai Lemon, and Thieneman were the biggest steals.
For Browns fans used to the team making poor, silly, and/or dumb choices throughout NFL draft history since The Return in 1999, it is helpful to see that their decision-making was good when compared to an aggregation of a lot of analysts. Now, it just needs to carry over to the playing field.
What jumps out to you about the selections versus the CBB? Does it reinforce or challenge your thoughts about the Browns picks in Round 1?
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